Bryan Bello's Posts

In this month's fair use question an author explores fair use and public domain in his push to publish a book that uses several long quotes.

Dear CSM,

I’m writing a book that examines the prose of notable American authors published before and directly after the Civil War.  I’d like to quote, in some
cases, several pages. I'm afraid that might exceed permitted quotes--I thought I understood that 400 words is the maximum. Can you help?

Best, Tom  Read more...

Obama and Romney own 2012 – they essentially bought it – having spent record sums of money on advertising and campaign stratagems designed to magnetize our attentions and motivate them towards a desired set of actions. As year end features and retrospectives squeeze their way into our nation's newspapers, one worn out phenomenon will predictably dominate the annual backward glance: the election. Read more...

In this month’s fair use question, a student librarian discovers an old photo album in his library’s special collection and wants to make it available online.

Dear Center for Social Media:

I work at my university's library. The other day, working on our special collection, I discovered an old photo album from the 1971 – 1972 county ensemble theatre's performance season. Read more...

In this month's fair use question, a communications professor is told by her publisher she must get permission from the license holder to include a copyrighted image she refers to in the text of her nearly completed book. Does she need permission?Read more...

Door-to-door get out the vote and issue awareness efforts are photo candy for newpapers. The image of motivated and passionate citizens involving themselves in the political process connecting directly with other citizens constitutes a narrative of American democracy that just looks and feels right.  While such efforts continue on today, the succusseful advocacy campaigns of the 21st century begin and thrive through a different kind of connection -- an internet connection. Embracing the connective opportunites of the digital era is importatnt for advocacy groups to remain vital, but are legacy techinques and legacy groups done altogether? Who's running the show? Read more...